


Is it Hot in Here or is it Just You(r Fever)

by F-117 Nighthawk (F117_Nighthawk)



Series: Dark Matter [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: BAMF Lance (Voltron), Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Keith and Shiro are Adoptive Siblings, Keith is a stubborn mule who refuses to take care of himself, Lance is Worried, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-18
Updated: 2017-08-23
Packaged: 2018-12-14 12:17:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11783013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/F117_Nighthawk/pseuds/F-117%20Nighthawk
Summary: Keith rarely gets sick. When he does, he refuses to admit it. So the week after the rest of the team gets what Lance dubbed the 'space flu,' Keith thinks he's fine.He's not fine.





	1. Keith, Take Care of Yourself Goddamnit

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this finished since......AP tests? So May? But I never posted it because the end needed context and I only just figured out the fic that gives it context.  
> I imagine this takes place before the wormhole but after the Balmera.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is _not_ sick. He _absolutely refuses_ to be.

Keith woke up slowly, which was his first warning sign. Years of needing to be instantly alert or risk someone stealing his stuff did not simply go away in the space of five hours. He raised one hand and poked the wall to turn his alarm off but missed, only succeeding in turning it louder. Groaning at the sudden unbearable loudness, he slammed his hand on the wall hoping that would work. When it didn’t, he opened his eyes and instantly regretted it. The lights in his room were so bright they hurt; he wondered if he had accidentally turned them to full power in his attempt to turn the alarm off. Squinting in pain at the wall, he finally managed to press the button to turn his alarm off. Sighing in relief Keith leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes. His head felt like a bursting watermelon. Eyes still closed he fumbled with the panel that controlled his room, turning the lights down to a bearable level. 

Keith finally opened his eyes and moved to get dressed, but the minute he stood up his head moved from watermelon to helium gas and he was forced to sit back down. He groaned and leaned against the wall again, vision swimming with sparks. He refused to be sick. This was nothing, just the fact that he had forgotten to eat at all yesterday and needed food. He’d grab a quick shower and meander down to the kitchen for some food goo and he’d be fine. Nothing he hadn’t done before.

Keith forced himself to stand up, holding onto the wall for support. After a moment of letting his vision clear, he stumbled into his bathroom, hand sliding along the wall. He let his eyes fall closed as he brushed his teeth, holding onto the sink with his free hand. Keith pulled his clothes off to drop them in the cleaning-chute and was struck by just how freezing cold he was. Shivering, he opened his eyes again and turned the shower on, the Altean fake-water warm and welcoming. After a not-exactly-quick shower he did indeed feel better, able to open his eyes and walk around without feeling like his head was going to explode or float away. Reassured of his prior assessment of himself, Keith threw his clothes back on and wandered down to the kitchen.

When he got to the kitchen Keith discovered he was the last one there. Groggy and cold he shuffled around the kitchen, piling agriord slices on something that he presumed were Altean pancakes. He shuffled to the table that everyone else was sitting around and sat between Lance and Pidge. Lance shot him a smile and passed him a bottle presumably full of syrup before turning back to an animated conversation with Hunk and Coran about pancakes. Keith tuned them out, dripping syrup onto his pancakes. It seemed like good syrup, like it would taste like something more than corn-syrup. Putting the bottle down he cut a bite of pancake and stuffed it in his mouth. He almost moaned in pleasure. It was indeed good syrup, and the pancakes weren’t half-bad. He slowly ate his pancakes, ostensibly because he wanted to savour them. He stopped when he felt Pidge’s eyes on him.

“Yes?”

She didn’t speak, continuing to stare at him. She squinted at his face, seemingly observing him.

“Pidge, what are you doing.”

Pidge leaned forward and poked his cheek, still studying him.

“What the hell, Pidge?”

“Are you okay?”

Keith blinked at her. “What?”

“Normally you would have leaned away from that before I started moving. Where are your reflexes?” Pidge was half off her chair now, pushing her glasses up her nose and leaning in to stare at him. “You look pale, too. I mean, you’re always pale but, paler than normal. Also normally you’re the most awake of us but your shirt is on backwards, you didn’t brush your hair, and I’m pretty sure you didn’t wash it either. And you’re not wearing your jacket.”

Keith looked down at his shirt and pulled at the collar to see the tag was in fact on his chest. “I’m fine, Pidge. I just forgot to eat last night and I’m tired because of it.”

Pidge didn’t look convinced. “You’ve forgotten to eat how many times and you’ve never looked this out of it.”

“Pidge. I’m fine. Just let me eat.”

Pidge sat back in her chair, still looking at him. He took it as a victory and resumed shoveling food into his mouth. 

Keith sat in silence for the remainder of the meal, enduring Pidge’s calculating gaze for longer than he would have liked. He listened to the conversation around him, about pancakes and toppings, letting it wash over him and distract him from his returning headache. He felt hot now and was glad he had forgotten to grab his jacket, sure that unzipping it would have invited more concerned Pidge, which he really did not need. 

“Alright team, as much as I would love to continue to discuss the merits of fruit on pancakes we do need to get to training,” Shiro said, effectively ending breakfast. Keith still hadn’t finished his pancakes. “I think we’ve had enough days to recover from last week’s bout of sickness-”

“Space-flu,” Lance interrupted.

Shiro glared at him. “We’re ready to continue our Gladiator streak again. Training deck in fifteen minutes, people.” With that he collected a pile of plates and took them to the kitchen. 

“Oh, man, Gladiator games again. Hey, Keith, you wanna try some of those sweet dual moves we came up with?” Lance said, poking him.

Keith finished chewing his bite, then answered “Sure. Just don’t trip over everyone this time.”

“I tripped once!”

“Last time we tried to in group training you knocked Hunk out, kicked Pidge, and almost shot me instead of the Gladiator.”

Lance scowled at him, but there was no malice in it. “I still only tripped once.” He picked up both his and Keith’s plates and carried them to the kitchen, calling over his shoulder, “Last one to the training deck does dishes for the next three days!”

“Hope you like dirty work, then!” Keith yelled back, pushing his chair out. He stood up and ended up leaning against the table to prevent himself from falling, breathing through the dizziness and insisting to himself that  _ he was not sick. _ He was  _ fine, _ he had just stood up a little too fast.

Blinking rapidly in an attempt to keep his vision focused, Keith jogged back to his room for his Paladin suit. The undersuit made him feel hotter, like he was stuck in an overheated hot tub. He struggled to attach the armor plates without his vision greying out, the constant movement messing with his head. The chestpiece felt so constricting he couldn’t breathe. Loosening the plating a little, he slipped his helmet on. It blew cold air onto his face, soothing his once again raging headache. Keith leaned against the wall for a moment, breathing in cold air. He was  _ fine _ he mentally reiterated,  _ fine _ and  _ completely okay. _

He jogged into the training room, literally running into Lance at the doors.

“Well look who it is, Mr. Sleepy-head,” the Blue Paladin teased.

“Are we both doing the dishes?”

Lance rolled his eyes. “I dunno, we aren’t actually in the door yet.”

Keith mustered a smirk past the headache and kicked the door open. “I win. You’re doing the dishes.” 

Lance gaped at him. “Hey! No fair! It has to be your whole body not your leg!”

Keith walked in the door, raising a bird. “I still win.”

“Guys, stop bickering and get to warming up. Keith, don’t flip him off,” Shiro reprimanded them.

Lance smirked at Keith and dropped into a plank as Keith did a few laps around the room to warm up. Keith knew he was going slower than usual, but going too fast was causing his headache to grow and the light-headedness to come back. He stopped after five laps instead of his usual ten, dropping into a push-up next to Pidge. He ignored her looking at him and counted under his breath until the helium feeling came back. He tried to do a few more, but his already exhausted body refused. Keith pushed back to a kneeling position and stretched his arms out, closing his eyes and ordering his head to go back to normal. Moving onto his legs, he willed Pidge, who was staring at him again, to not say anything. 

She continued to stare at him as Shiro ordered them to formation, communicating with Allura on what they needed to work on.

“Gladiator level five. Everyone ready?”

There was the noise of shields activating and bayards materializing. Keith whipped out his sword, the comforting weight in his left hand taking his mind off his headache and how he was suddenly cold again.

“Start training sequence!”

There was a pause during which they all watched the ceiling for an opening that the Gladiator would jump down from. Keith tensed when he heard a hissing noise, which none of the other Paladins seemed to pick up on. Whirling around, he charged for the middle of the room and sliced downward, sword slamming into the staff of the Gladiator as it rose from the ground. The Gladiator pushed him back with its staff, whirling it to gain momentum and attempting to smash his head in, which Keith barely managed to block in time.

Stepping sideways he attempted to slash at the Gladiator but was knocked to the side. His vision greyed out for a moment and he heard Lance and Hunk shooting at the robot. He knelt as his vision came back and saw Shiro slicing at the Gladiator’s legs, about to get hit by the staff. Running on instinct Keith slammed into the Gladiator, sending it stumbling right and the staff swing to go wide, missing Shiro. Shiro’s slice hit one of its legs but didn’t go through, creating a gash, which Pidge took advantage off by shooting her grappling hook into it. The electricity sparked and sent the robot into a frenzy, slamming its staff into Keith and sending him flying into a wall.

Keith coughed and squinted through his swimming vision. Lance and Hunk were shooting at the Gladiator, aiming for the gash which Pidge had widened and the sparking stump of one of its arms. The robot was still sparking from Pidge’s bayard, spinning in a circle in an attempt to defend itself from the guns and Shiro. The staff caught Shiro off guard and sent him sprawling. Seemingly sensing the weaker target, the Gladiator advanced on Shiro, but Lance aimed a perfect shot for the weak point on its back, finishing the training level. 

“Great job, Paladins,” Allura’s voice came. “Gladiator level six, start.”

“Wait, what?” Lance cried, “we don’t even get time to get back into position?”

“Will Zarkon give us time to get in position?” Keith countered. Slamming into the wall had not helped his headache, and his vision was still spattered with sparks.

“No,” Lance muttered.

Keith’s eyes widened as he heard another hiss that no one else did and sprinted to the wall behind Lance, pushing the Blue Paladin aside. He wasn’t fast enough at raising his bayard through the headache and sudden shortness of breath, getting slammed in the ribs with the flat of the Gladiator’s sword. His vision blurred and he gasped for breath, stumbling back into Lance and sending them both sprawling. He could sense the Gladiator bearing down on them but couldn’t move his arms, the wind knocked out of him. Pidge’s grappling hook shot out and wrapped around the robot, pulling it away from him and Lance. Keith rolled off of Lance, kneeling on the ground still struggling to catch his breath. Lance shot him a concerned look before pelting the robot with well placed shots to the abdomen, pushing it away from them.

There was a hand on his shoulder. “You okay, Keith?”

Keith nodded, but it only caused his vision to blur again. He was fairly certain that if he could see Lance he would see a look of concern. He tensed as he heard another hiss and shouted, “There’s another!”

Wobbling to his feet Keith closed his eyes to stop the world from spinning. He heard the first robot advancing on his left and stabbed, slashing out when he felt it hit something and extending the arc to hit the second robot that had just dropped down from the ceiling. Operating only on instinct he fought them off without opening his eyes, as opening them caused the world to spin. He misheard a strike and got a staff to the head, his headache exploding in size which in turn caused him to miss a strike to his chest and be sent sprawling next to Pidge.

Forcing himself to open his eyes he struggled to his feet. He had a major migraine and the lights were way too bright; he couldn’t breathe and his vision kept blinking in and out. Swaying, he thought he heard Pidge saying something to him before he registered a sensation of falling.

Keith finally admitted to himself that okay, he was a  _ little _ sick.

* * *

 

Pidge watched Keith as he jogged around the room. He seemed to be going slowly. She squinted at him as he slowed at the end of a lap. He had done five less laps than normal, and his face looked pale under his visor. 

_ Jade, _ she thought at her lion,  _ has Scarlet gotten through to Keith? _

_ No. The Red Paladin has not answered her all morning. She is very concerned. _

She skipped her push-ups to keep an eye on Keith. He was panting earlier than he normally would, his push-ups slow and shaky. 

_ Can you access the the castle systems and scan him? _

_ Maybe, it's been awhile since I attempted to interface. Give me several dobashes. _

Pidge stretched and watched Keith. His eyes seemed unfocused and breathing irregular. She was about to confront him about it when Shiro ordered them to get into position. She maneuvered herself so she could watch him during the fight, lining up next to him in the circle. 

“Gladiator level five. Everyone ready?”

Pidge activated her bayard and did a couple test swings, the weight in her right hand perfectly balanced. She glanced at Keith, who had his sword in his left hand. That was odd; despite being completely ambidextrous he normally held his sword in his right hand during group training because he was less likely to jab someone with his elbow.

“Start training sequence!”

As she watched Keith spun around and charged for the center of the room, slicing downwards at the Gladiator rising from the floor. Pidge stood back, waiting for her opportunity as the Gladiator threw Keith off it. Lance and Hunk opened fire, pinning the Gladiator in place as Shiro aimed for its legs. It whirled its staff and almost hit Shiro but Keith slammed into it, causing Shiro’s swipe to only create a gash on the Gladiator’s leg. Sensing an opportunity, Pidge shot her grappling hook into the gash and pressed the taser button on her bayard, sending a stream of electricity into the robot. 

Pidge winced as the excess electricity caused the robot to go haywire, swinging its staff around quicker than Keith could see and slamming him into a wall. She retracted the grappling hook and moved to run to him but the robot sent Shiro sprawling in almost the same direction and advanced on the two downed paladins. Quickly scanning the robot, she yelled “Lance! Aim for its neck!”

The Blue Paladin nodded and aimed, firing a perfect shot that disabled the robot and ended the simulation. 

_ I have scanned the Red Paladin, _ Jade said in Pidge’s mind,  _ but his armor and the training room are interfering with the castle sensors. Only Scarlet is capable of interfacing with his suit.  _

Pidge sighed internally.  _ Well it was worth a shot. I'll see if I can get him to talk. Thanks, Jade. _

The lion purred, an edge of concern in it.

Allura had started another level while Pidge spoke with her lion, which Pidge only realized when Keith suddenly jumped up and sprinted across the room. Keith positioned himself between Lance and the Gladiator advancing out of the wall and got slammed in the ribs for his trouble, making him and Lance into a heap on the floor. Seeing the two on the floor, Lance surprised and Keith desperate for breath, Pidge wrapped her grappling hook around the Gladiator and pulled it towards her. Struggling to keep the Gladiator from moving, she watched as Keith rolled off of Lance, still gasping for breath. He knelt there for a minute while Hunk took potshots at the Gladiator from across the room and Lance tried to get him to breathe. Pidge was forced to release the Gladiator when it threw her to the ground, but she had let Hunk get in a few good shots.

Suddenly Keith jerked his head up and shouted, “There’s another!” and wobbled to his feet. Pidge watched in horror as another Gladiator fell from the ceiling almost on top of him and the other advanced on him. Keith’s eyes were closed and he was swaying unsteadily, but he managed to prevent them from landing any blows on him. Until he missed a strike and the first one smashed his helmet, knocking him off balance before the second one sent him flying towards her with its staff. 

“Keith! Keith, oh my god, are you okay?” she yelled, rushing over. He struggled to his feet, swaying and squinting at the floor. He looked incredibly pale, dangerously so, and she sprinted for him, realizing something was very wrong. “Keith? Come on, answer me!”

Keith’s knees gave out just before she reached him and he collapsed on the floor. 

“End training sequence!” she screamed. She knelt next to Keith and pushed him onto his back, feeling for a pulse. It was definitely there, but felt too fast even for someone who had just exercised. She pulled his helmet off; his face was pale and sweaty and there seemed to be circles around his eyes. Pidge pulled a glove off and pressed her hand to his forehead. “Holy quiznak. Shiro!”

The other three Paladins had whipped around when she screamed the stop order and were now rushing to her side. “What happened? Did he take too many hits?” Shiro asked, kneeling down across Keith from her. Pidge grabbed Shiro’s human hand and pressed it to Keith’s forehead. His eyes widened in alarm. “Fuck.”

“Paladins?” came Allura’s concerned voice over the intercom, “What happened?”

“Keith’s burning up,” Shiro told her, “He just collapsed. We gotta get him to the infirmary.”

“I’ll grab Coran and meet you there. Allura out.”

Shiro shook Keith’s shoulder. “Keith, come on and wake up, we gotta get you to the med bay.”

Keith didn’t respond, didn’t move at all. His breathing was shaky and shallow, heart still racing.

Pidge looked up at Shiro, who was looking down at Keith with a concerned look. “That’s not gonna work, Shiro.”

Shiro huffed then picked Keith up, being careful to not jostle him too much. Keith’s head lolled into his shoulder, eyes flickering under his eyelids. Shiro’s eyes hardened, seemingly in anger but at what Pidge had no idea. He marched out of the room, the others on his heels.

“Is it the space-flu?” Lance asked. His eyes were soft and worried, voice more a question than a tease for once. 

“None of us fainted,” Hunk said.

“Yeah, but none of us got smacked around by three Gladiators before we realized we were sick.”

“I think he did realize he was sick.” Pidge whispered. She was afraid that if she told the others that she had been watching Keith all morning and had suspected he was sick she would get yelled at for keeping vital information to herself. Lance and Hunk looked at her, but Shiro didn’t have eyes for anyone but the boy in his arms. He didn’t even seem to be listening. Mustering her courage, she continued: “Normally he’s up and training before the rest of us are even up, but not only was he the last one to breakfast his shirt was on backwards and he didn’t wash his hair. And he seemed really pale and his reflexes were slow. I refuse to believe that he didn’t realize his reflexes were so slow.”

“So he just, decided to train even though he  _ knew _ he was sick?”

“He doesn’t normally get sick, but when he does it’s bad and he refuses to admit it out loud no matter how lousy he feels,” Shiro interrupted, “He once flew a perfect simulator run despite being so sick his vision was greying out.” 

Lance stopped moving for a moment.  _ “What.” _

The rest of the walk to the med bay was spent staring at the Red Paladin in Shiro’s arms in concern and slight awe.

When the door to the med bay opened Coran and Allura were flitting around gathering things. Shiro gently placed Keith on a waiting table, stepping back to let Coran do his thing.

“Well, he has a fever of ninety degrees Elenar.”

The Paladins blinked at each other.

“I think that’s thirty-nine in Celsius,” Hunk offered, “which is a full degree and a half above his normal temperature and  _ that’s not good. _ I mean, he normally runs hot, but that’s high even for him. _ ” _

“Can you help me get him out of his armor?” Coran asked them, “It’s a little hard for the scanners to get through your suits.”

Shiro and Lance moved to strip Keith down to his bodysuit. The Red Paladin didn’t even twitch. Hunk and Pidge turned away when Coran grabbed a scanner started poking at Keith.

_ Jade, talk to Scarlet. Does she have anything that could help determine what’s going on with Keith? _

There was a humm of assent in Pidge’s mind. She watched the screens on the edge of the room; they were running through tests on Keith’s blood, attempting to find any evidence of why he was sick.

_ Scarlet is unresponsive. _

“What?”

The others turned to stare at her. Pidge scrunched her eyes closed and ignored them, concentrating on her lion. Jade’s vision layered over her eyelids, the lions’ hangar in a green tint. Scarlet was curled in a corner, head resting on her paws, tail curled around protectively, her lights off. Kuro towered over her, mimicking Shiro in his protective manner. Pidge could feel his concern through Jade. Azul and Samasama were pacing the hangar, their concern practically visible. 

_ Jade, you didn’t turn off when I was sick, did you? _

_ No. None of us did. _

“Crap.” Pidge opened her eyes and turned to look at Coran, who was staring curiously.

“Scarlet isn’t responding to any of the lions. She’s curled up in the corner and off.”

Coran’s eyes widened. “Well, that’s not good. Your lions only respond physically when you are in danger. If she is off, Keith must be seriously ill.”

The Paladins moved as one to gather around Keith, but Allura stepped in their way. “Oh no you don’t, nope, not until we figure out what caused this, we are  _ not _ letting the rest of you catch this.”

* * *

 

The Paladins were gathered in the common room. Pidge had gone back to her room to change and grab her computer, and was now sitting on one of the couches tapping away. Shiro was pacing the higher level, military bearing pronounced in his badly hidden worry. Hunk was stress eating. He had grabbed a bowl and some sort of fruit and was chomping on the purple fruit slices while keeping an eye on Lance. Lance, still in full armour, was playing with an Altean fidget cube. He rolled it between his hands, staring at the shapes in the middle of the gel. Lance would never admit it out loud, but Hunk could tell he was worried. He pushed the bowl closer to Lance. “Ubasan slice?”

“I'm not hungry, Hunk.” He sounded dejected, almost like he did when he was homesick, but there was a hint of worry in the way he was playing with the cube. 

Hunk shifted closer to Lance. “Hey. We're all worried about him, but he'll be all right. He's Keith, he'll get better just to spite the universe.”

Lance just sighed and leaned against him, which was telling in and of itself. Normally the Blue Paladin would protest any indication that the cared about Keith. 

There was the sound of a door opening. All four Paladins swivelled to look at Coran, who had walked in the door. He had an odd expression, like he was confused about something. 

“Well, Keith is stable. He seems to have gotten the same thing you all had last week: Caela Febris. Or space flu as Lance dubbed it. However his symptoms are much worse.”

“Why?” Hunk asked through a mouthful.

“Well, I'm not quite sure. It’s possible that it is a slightly different strain than you four had, or it could just be affecting him differently.”

“Is Caela Febris deadly to any species?” Shiro inquired, worry pulling his brows together.

“Not to Alteans, nor humans we think, but it is deadly to a few species. There are recorded deaths in the castle systems of Deiars, Veoqes, Ut’yps, Galra, and a few others. Anyway, Keith should eventually be fine, he just needs some rest. Allura said you can go visit him.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> spoiler alert: he's not fine


	2. Protectiveness and Something More

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith really, really, _really_ is not fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FYI the last little bit with Lance the dialogue is in Spanish but I kinda don't know Spanish so yeah
> 
> small edit: A bit of this chapter has to do with my headcanons about the Voltron mind melds, specificaly a Lion-Paladin bond. I posted my explanation of it over on tumblr so if you wanna read it in more detail it's [here](https://f-117-nighthawk.tumblr.com/post/164524498500/so-im-posting-some-voltron-fics-currentlysoon)

Keith did not simply need rest, it turned out. He was still not responsive, his features flushed with fever and eyes constantly moving behind his eyelids. The Red Paladin’s fever rose another degree over the next few hours, much to Shiro’s concern. “Forty celsius is not healthy for a human, Coran. Two more degrees will cause brain damage, and his fever’s still rising.”

“Well, we used the last of the stimpacks on the rest of you last week. We haven’t had the opportunity to buy more.”

“Then we need to buy more!”

“Shiro,” Allura had said, placing a calming hand on his shoulder, “We’ll get some more. But since we have no idea what all is different between ours and human biology, someone needs to stay here with him.”

“I’ll do it. I used to take care of my siblings all the time,” Lance had said. Which was how he had ended up sitting in the infirmary while the others, sans Coran, were down in the closest Space Mall bartering for medical supplies. 

Lance sat in a chair he had dragged in by the cryopod Keith was lying on. It was in bed mode, moved horizontal and sides lowered for easier access. Shiro had asked if they could just put Keith in one of the pods, but Coran had said that the pods could only heal physical injuries. If the virus ravaged Keith enough that something became damaged, then they could put him in, but the pod would not be able to get rid of the virus. 

“You’re an idiot, Keith,” Lance mumbled, glancing between the monitors on the side of the pod and the unconscious Red Paladin, “You’re not supposed to train when you’re feeling lousy. You always think you’re better than all of us, that you  _ have _ to be better than all of us so you hide everything. I know you’re not an emotionless robot, so why can’t you just tell us when something’s wrong? What would we have done if it was an actual battle, Keith? Not telling us could have put the rest of us in danger and then what would you have done? Died, probably. Fuck, Keith. We can’t form Voltron without you, you’re an integral part of this team. You’re the Red Paladin, for fuck’s sake, you’re impulsive and overconfident but goddamn if you aren’t the best pilot and fighter. We care-”

Lance paused. Tentatively, he reached a hand out and curled his fingers around Keith’s.  _ “I _ care about you. Fuck. Don’t die, please.”

Lance sat there for a while, hand clutching Keith’s unresponsive one, eyes flickering between the monitors and Keith, lost in thought. Where had his sudden outburst of feeling come from? He was well aware that he considered Keith pretty, one had to be blind to not be attracted to his violet-grey eyes, and the mullet was actually kinda cute. He knew Keith’s hair was soft because of the first movie night where Keith had fallen asleep and slipped down the couch to lie in his lap and it was just too tempting, okay? Plus Keith was rather muscular, which definitely didn’t hurt him. But none of that justified the sudden rush of protectiveness he felt over the Red Paladin.

Lance moved his hand from Keith’s hand to his hair. It was sweaty and knotted, he likely hadn’t brushed it. Absentmindedly, Lance combed his hand through the strands, working the knots out of Keith’s hair as he attempted to unknot his tangled feelings. There was a purr in the back of his mind. Azul gave him a mental nuzzle, a reminder that she was there and willing to help him in any way possible. He returned the nuzzle, reassuring her that he was fine, just sorting through a complicated mess called emotions. 

Keith’s fingers twitched, and his mouth opened like he was trying to speak. Lance’s fingers paused in their ministrations. “Keith?”

Keith seemed to mumble something. He blinked his eyes open slowly. “Shiro,” he managed to croak out.

“Whoa, hey, Keith. Shiro’s out getting you medicine, it’s just me, Lance.”

“Shiro,” Keith croaked again, “The car-”

“What?” Lance stood and leaned over Keith. His eyes were glassy and unfocused, like he wasn’t actually awake. Lance moved his hand to Keith’s forehead. The other boy was radiating even more heat. Keith flinched away from his touch, whimpering.

“Mh-Shiro, help, the car-”

Lance felt a rising wave of panic, but squashed it down. Keith was obviously delirious, and wasn’t going to listen to him no matter how much he insisted that Shiro wasn’t here. “Okay, okay, Keith, I’m here. What’s wrong?”

“The car. Okasan-it’s-”

“What is it, Keith?”

“Shiro, please help-”

Okay, that line of questioning wasn't going anywhere. Keith was whimpering in pain and shivering from the fever. Lance considered his options. Keith was probably having a fever dream, but this seemed to be worse than any Lance’s siblings had had. Would it be better to sit here and pretend to be Shiro, or let the dream take its course? His choice was taken from him when Keith closed his eyes and slipped back (further?) into unconsciousness. Keith's eyebrows were creased and his face has gone pale. 

Lance inspected the monitors. Keith's fever had gone up another degree. Worried, he sat back down and clutched the Red Paladin’s hand again. “Come on, buddy, hold on.”

Abruptly, the scramble alarm started blaring. Lance shot to his feet and rushed to the intercom. “Coran! What's going on?”

“Galra ships just jumped into the system! Lance, you need to get to your lion and hold them off until the others get back!”

“What about Keith? His fever went up another degree and he's having bad fever dreams. I can't just leave him!”

“Well you're going to have to! It's gonna take six dobashes for the others to get back. I'll help you with the castle defenses, but you need to hurry, they've spotted us!”

Lance released the intercom and jogged back to Keith. In a moment of weakness which he justified to himself later with the fact that lips were the most sensitive part of a human’s body and he needed to make sure Keith’s fever wasn’t still rising, he leaned down and pressed his lips to the other’s forehead. “Twenty minutes, Keith. Just hold out for twenty minutes and then you'll be fine.”

Lance put his helmet on as he walked backwards out of the infirmary, not taking his eyes off Keith until the door closed. With a weight in his chest, he turned and ran to Azul’s hangar.

_ Abbreviated checklist, Azul, _ he told the lion,  _ we're at emergency stations. _

Azul purred an assent. He could feel calculations through their connection, making sure all systems were operational. Lance skidded into the hangar, HUD on his helmet running through his armour’s system checklist. He glanced at Scarlet, still off in a corner. Kuro was curled around her, protective as his paladin. Azul growled and opened her mouth, letting Lance clamber in and sit in her cockpit. 

“Nineteen minutes. Keep a counter, Azul. We ready?”

She growled, low and angry. He could feel her anger at the Galra, her frustration about not being able to help Scarlet and Keith. It mirrored his own. Letting himself sink into the connection, Lance grabbed the weapon controls, and Azul bounded out of the hangar. 

Galra ships were speeding towards the Castle. They consisted of a  _ D’Vik _ -class cruiser, a  _ Zanrik _ -class corvette, and their complement of fighter drones. Growling, Azul hovered next to the Castle of Lions, out of sight of the approaching drones. The Castle’s defense systems shimmered to life, battle turrets shooting out and taking defensive positions. “Steady...steady…” Lance murmured, waiting for the drones to get in range.

They waited for the first few drones to be taken out by the turrets, waited for the swarm. 

“NOW!” Lance yelled, pushing a button and shoving the control levers forward. Azul spewed a beam of ice that froze the first wave of drones, then slammed into the middle, breaking the drones off into chunks. Roaring, Azul slashed at the nearest chunk, making a few drones explode.

The counter at the edge of Lance’s command display read four point eight dobashes. Sixteen minutes.

“We gotta take out the ion cannon on the  _ D’Vik _ before it gets a shot off.” Azul rumbled her agreement.

Lance felt a few shots hit Azul’s left, sending them crashing into two of the drones. They lept from drone to drone, ripping and shooting as they went, aiming for the large _ D’Vik _ -class. The cruiser took pot shots at Azul, but they were able to land on its ion cannon and bite it before it got a shot off. Azul ripped the cannon off, throwing it out into space.

Three dobashes. Ten minutes.

Lance’s fingers flew over the controls, shunting power around so that Azul could charge her shoulder cannon. She jumped up as the cannon materialized, aiming for the  _ D’Vik’s _ bridge. It disappeared with a blast that threw Lance back in his chair from the recoil. 

Two point one dobashes. Seven minutes.

He had crippled the  _ D’Vik, _ but it was still shooting at him, as was the  _ Zanrik. _ They dodged and weaved, Azul taking pot-shots with her tail. 

“Lance! We can’t get through with that many drones!” Shiro’s voice came over the coms. Lance turned Azul around to look at the castle. It was swarmed by thousands of drones. The defenses were holding, but if Coran lowered even a little of the shield the drones would get through. 

He was crushed by a wave of frustration, of anger. Azul’s emotions spilled into his. How  _ dare _ the Galra be here, how  _ dare _ they get in their way, how  _ dare _ they be in the way of getting Keith medicine. How  _ dare they _ endanger Keith.  _ How dare they how dare they how dare they how dare they- _

One point eight. Six.

_ “Entendido,” _ they growled, and burst into motion. They bounded off the  _ D’Vik _ and shot towards the drones, power coalescing in their mouth. The closest drones were frozen and they slammed into them with a roar. They bit one that flew too close and spit it into another, sending both crashing into two more. They bit another one and held it like a spear as they barreled through, collecting drone parts until they couldn’t see and tossed the ball into more drones. Their tail whipped around, lashing at a few drones and shooting them. They slammed into the Castle’s particle barrier, shooting at the drones above them. Growling, they spotted the pod heading towards the particle barrier and moved to protect it, throwing themselves in front of a blast. They roared in challenge at the drones, daring them to make a pass. They batted a paw at one that got too close, tail whipping around again to shoot. Bounding forward again, they spewed beams at the drones. Their shoulder cannon materialized again and they roared as it disintegrated the front line of drones. They shot forward and clawed at the next few, tail whipping and slamming drones into each other.

“Lance! I’m on the bridge and we need to leave now. Get back inside!”

Lance suddenly slammed back to himself. “¿Qué?”

“Get back inside so we can leave!”

“Right, okay, I’m coming in.” He turned Azul around, diving for the open panel in the particle barrier. As they landed he felt the teludav activating, letting them jump out of Galra controlled space.

Lance leaned back in his chair, letting the adrenaline of battle filter out. Azul lumbered over to Kuro, who was still curled around Scarlet in the corner. She nuzzled the other lions, concern filtering through their link. Blinking, Lance sat back up. “Keith. I gotta get back to Keith.” Azul stepped back slightly and lowered her head, opening her mouth to let him dash out.

* * *

 

The stimpack had stopped Keith’s fever from rising, but he was still completely out of it; he hadn’t woken up since his little fever dream. The Paladins had agreed to take shifts watching over him as the Alteans were not satisfied with their knowledge of human biology.

Dinner was a solemn affair. Pidge was on Keith watch; she had been taking inventory of the medical supplies when Hunk had brought her food. Coran had popped in and out, in a hurry to purge the castle systems while they had downtime. The others were sitting around the table, slowly eating food goo. Even Lance wasn’t his normally chipper self. He had tried one joke, which had fallen flat, and made no attempts at flirting with anyone, which, okay, he had been doing that less but he wasn’t even joking about doing so. Lance just sat there, chin resting on his hand, pushing goo around his plate. 

Hunk was about to ask Lance what was wrong when Shiro stood. “I’m going to take over for Pidge.”

“You don’t have to for another hour, Shiro,” Allura said. She looked worried and tired, food barely touched.

“I know.” He walked out of the room.

Allura looked after him, then sighed and stood up. “I’m going to follow Shiro. Gods knows he’ll worry himself into a spiral.”

Hunk watched them leave. He turned to Lance, who had put his spoon down and was simply staring at the green mass in front of him.

“Lance.”

Lance glanced up at him, then back down at his goo. “Yeah?”

Hunk sighed and stood up, plopping himself back down next to Lance. He was sitting where Keith normally sat. “What’s wrong?”

Lance closed his eyes. “Do you remember when Ben and Coro caught scarlet fever?”

“Yeah, you refused to leave their side for three whole days, no matter what your mama told you.”

“It scared me. Their fevers were so high and I thought they were going to hack their lungs out. Ben couldn’t hold any fluids down and Coro had horrible fever dreams. Mama kept saying they were going to be fine, but I was so worried.” Lance leaned back, opening his eyes to stare up at the ceiling. “I felt like I had to be the good big brother and protect them from everything, but even I couldn’t fight a virus.”

“So Keith being sick is reminding you of your siblings and you’re homesick.”

“No! Well, okay, yes a little. I would give anything to wrap them all up in a bear hug right now.”

“You could always go record something with Electron.”

“I know, Hunk. I might later, but that’s not what I was going for. I want Keith to be in that giant bear hug too. I mean, I want all of you to be in the bear hug, but Keith moreso.”

Hunk blinked at him. “You’re moping because you’re starting to consider Keith a friend. Or is there more to it?”

“Yes there’s more to it! I feel the same protectiveness I do for Ben and Coro and Diego and Sofie and Stef but  _ more. _ I want to take care of him, and brush the tangles out of that stupid mullet, and train with him because then I’ll  _ know _ when he’s overworking himself, and watch his back when he and Scarlet go off on their own, and-and-and- I just want to be around him and protect him from everything bad in the universe.”

Hunk smothered a laugh. “That’s not what I meant and you know it, Lance.”

“No, I don’t!”

Hunk schooled his features into a serious expression and grabbed Lance’s face, turning him towards him. “Lance. You have a crush on Keith.”

Lance stared at him, then turned redder than Scarlet. “I-I do not!” he yelped, flailing out out Hunk’s grip. “He’s like, uhm, a brother! Yeah! He’s on the same level as Diego and Ben! Plus Shiro’s got heart eyes for him anyway, and he probably returns them. Shiro is like the only person Keith likes. Or he might not actually like anyone at all! That’s more likely.”

Hunk rolled his eyes through Lance’s tirade, but caught him when his flailing tipped his chair over. “Lance, Shiro only has “heart eyes” for Allura. I’m pretty sure they only see each other as something along the lines of brothers.”

“Yes. That is exactly what I consider Keith. A brother.”

Hunk resisted the urge to smack his head into the table. “Lance. Just accept it. You have repeatedly told me he’s pretty and you’re talking about taking care of him and protecting him. Accept your fate.”

“Nope.”

Hunk sighed and resigned himself to another night of listening to Lance praise Keith to hell and back.

* * *

 

Lance couldn’t sleep. Which wasn’t unusual, the Castle was too quiet with only seven people, but today was different. He couldn’t stop worrying about Keith. He lay in bed with his headphones on, hoping to drown out the incessant thoughts, but failing miserably. He shifted, rolling over and resting his head on his arm. Why couldn’t he stop thinking about Keith? He was so worried, he just wanted the other Paladin to be okay. Keith’s fever was so much worse than his, it was dangerously high. Sure the stimpack had stopped it from rising but who’s to say that it wouldn’t start again? What if it burned Keith’s brain and he couldn’t fly anymore then Allura would have to kick him out and what would happen then? What if Keith died?

Lance didn’t think he could live with that. Keith had wormed his way into his life in the most intrusive way possible and if he died, Lance was fairly certain that he wouldn’t be far behind.

Okay, maybe Hunk was right. He probably had a crush. A major, five foot five, mullet haired, unbearably cute, crush. Who was currently possibly dying in the infirmary and he was done lying here doing fuck-all. Lance swung his legs of the bed and slipped his blue lion slippers on. Deciding to skip the robe, he walked out into the hall and headed straight for Keith. 

When Lance shuffled in he found Shiro sitting in the chair, an Altean children’s book in his lap. Shiro was reading it softly out loud, mouth forming the words like music. Lance stood in the doorway for a while, simply listening. Shiro’s voice was calming and soothing. “Suilanna, awanol. Isse neema?” Shiro paused, turning slightly to face the door. “Need something, Lance?”

Lance blushed in embarrassment. “I, uh, came to check on Keith. Were you reading to him? You sounded almost like Allura does.”

“Yeah, she’s been giving me lessons,” Shiro mumbled, closing the book, “I’m really not that good, but she says I’m improving.”

Lance wandered over and checked the monitors. “How’s he doing?”

Shiro sighed. “His fever went down a degree, but he hasn’t woken up since he collapsed.”

“Yeah he did. Well, kind of.”

Shiro looked at him. “Kind of?”

“Just before the Galra showed up he woke up a bit. He was really out of it, I’m not sure if he was even really awake or just talking in his sleep. He kept calling for you and saying something about a car and then fell back asleep.”

Shiro’s face hardened into that face that meant he wanted to punch something but couldn’t, then softened as he turned to Keith. “If he’s dreaming about that I hope he wakes up soon.”

Lance moved around to the other side of Keith’s bed. “About what? Does it have to do with him not having anyone that wants to make sure he’s alright?”

“Yeah. It’s not really my story to tell, though.”

“Why don’t you just tell me your side? Assuming you have a side, which I am, considering he kept calling for you.”

“Lance, if I tell you, don’t tease him about it or anything.”

“Juro por las vidas de mis madres.”

Shiro looked up at him. “I don’t understand Spanish, so I’m going to assume that’s a yes.”

“It is.”

“The first time we met I saved him from a couple bullies who overheard him saying something, he never told me what, and were trying to beat him up. His foster mom couldn’t deal with the constant fighting and his impulsiveness, so Mom ended up adopting him when I suggested it. He never really connected with Mom, just me. Then Mom died in a car crash with him in the car, which was probably what he was dreaming about, and the Holt’s decided to take care of us, but he was always wary of them.” Shiro looked down. “I think he ended up with horrible trust issues. I guess I’m lucky to be the one that he trusts.”

Lance stared down at the Red Paladin. Hesitating, he reached out and grabbed Keith’s hand, ostensibly checking his pulse. “You know he spent a whole year searching for you.”

“He told me.”

They didn’t move for a while. Both glanced between the Red Paladin and the pod’s monitors, keeping an eye on the temperature line, which was going down at a slow and steady pace. 

Lance thought about what Shiro had said. What had Keith been through that the only person he would trust was Shiro? His issues with following authority and inability to trust anyone else with big missions made a little more sense now. The day he had gotten kicked out was suddenly very clear. 

Lance felt a little disgusted with himself at the sprout of hope that was winding around his heart. What did he have to be hopeful about? Keith probably wasn’t ready to accept anyone in the context he wanted if the only person he trusted with anything was his adoptive brother. But that was just it, wasn’t it? Shiro thought of Keith as a brother. Keith did as well.

Lance was shaken out of his thoughts by a low moan from the now shifting Red Paladin. Shiro stood up, wide alert. “Keith?”

* * *

 

Keith felt like he was drowning in syrup. The gross actually-just-corn-starch-with-some-sort-of-extract syrup that his foster mother had always gotten. It was so viscous, hard to pour. He couldn't move, his arms felt like lead, his legs like osmium. His head was fit to burst, and he felt like he was burning hotter than Earth’s sun. His senses were dulled, which he hated, but he was pretty sure someone was touching his hand. 

Keith tried to ask who it was, but was pretty sure it came out as more of a moan. 

“Keith?”

That was...Shiro? It sounded like Shiro, but he wasn't completely sure he could trust his hearing right now. Especially since his voice was coming from the opposite side from whoever was holding his hand. 

“‘Iro?” He managed to croak. 

“Yeah, hey, I'm here.”

Keith blinked his eyes open and squinted up. Two people swam into focus. There was one with a familiar shock of white hair in black, and the other had... brown hair and blue pajamas? Who- _ oh. _

“‘Ance?”

“Is it hot in here, or is it just you.....r fever?”

Keith snorted, a congested, soft noise.

Shiro smacked Lance in the head before turning to grab something. 

Lance rubbed the back of his head. “Well, you're definitely conscious this time.”

“This time?”

“You woke up a little earlier, but I'm pretty sure you were just sleep talking.”

Keith moved his head a little. Was he in the infirmary? When had he ended up here? Also, why was Lance holding his hand?

“How are you feeling?” Shiro asked, hovering over him with a bowl of ice chips that had been magicked from somewhere.

“Like a volcano shit on me.” Lance let go of his hand, snorting. Keith suddenly missed the cool of his hand. “What happened?”

Shiro stuck an ice chip at him, which he greedily accepted. “You collapsed during training because you were hiding you were sick. Again. I told you the first time that if you actually tell someone when you’re sick you’ll actually get better and in the long run you’ll have more time for training.”

Keith remembered that lecture. It was the first time he had heard what became Shiro’s ‘disappointed dad’ voice. “Sorry,” he mumbled, “won’t do it again.”

Shiro sighed. “We both know that’s not going to happen.”

Keith admitted to himself that was probably true. The syrup was calling for him again, but he really didn’t want to go back to it. Syrup meant dreams, and dreams always meant nightmares. 

“‘M hot,” he said, attempting to stay awake.

Another ice chip was placed in his mouth. “Well, I highly doubt you’re able to hold any fluids down right now. I’m surprised you haven’t thrown up your breakfast,” Shiro said, “the medicine seems to be working though, so just hang on.”

Keith really did feel like a volcano. He blinked open eyes that had closed at some point. “Was it this bad for you?”

“No. For some reason you’ve got it much worse.”

The syrup was covering his senses again. He clenched his hand, wishing Lance would put his back. He’d also settle for Shiro at this point. He wanted to ask, but he didn’t trust his mouth to form the words. “‘Iro, you read? ‘Ike Mom?”

“Of course.”

Keith let the syrup overtake him to the sound of Shiro speaking in Altean.

* * *

 

Lance took the next Keith-watch shift, sending Shiro to bed with a promise to get him if Keith woke up and asked for him. The Red Paladin didn’t wake up until after breakfast the next day, which Lance skipped to catch up on sleep. He had fallen asleep again by the time Lance woke up.

Lance ended up wandering the halls of the Castle until he found himself on the bridge. As they were currently orbiting an uninhabited planet to give Keith some down-time, no one was manning the bridge. Eyes wandering, he spotted Electron sitting on the communicator console. On impulse, he activated the orb’s repulsors and made the signal to have it follow him. Lance made for the hangar so he could have a little privacy. If one did not want to be disturbed, the Lions were always willing to have their Paladins sit around. When he walked in with the camera-bot in tow, Azul lifted her head and growled a greeting.  _ Paladin. _

“Hey, Azul. Mind if I hop in for a little?”

She purred and opened her mouth, ramp extending to let him in. Lance settled himself cross-legged in the cockpit seat, ordering Electron around to float above her controls. “Alright. Start recording.”

He paused for a moment, letting the orb go through its startup sequence.

“Hey, Mama, Mom. It’s been awhile since I sent one of these myself, but... I needed to talk. Since we’re not on Earth, I figure this is the next best thing. 

“It’s been a long week. We all came down with some sort of space-flu, Coran called it Caela Febris. We’re fine now. Well, mostly. Pidge, Hunk, Shiro and I all got it last week, but Keith only got it yesterday. The day before? Azul, do you know?”

_ Two days ago Scarlet started complaining about Keith acting crankier than normal. _

Lance snorted. “Your words or Scarlet’s?”

_ Mine. Hers were rather... untranslatable. _

He huffed a laugh and looked out the viewport at Scarlet. Kuro was still curled protectively around her; she hadn’t turned back on since Keith had first collapsed. Sobering at the sight, he turned back to the floating orb. “Azul says two days ago. Either way, his fever was much worse than ours. It got up to forty-one degrees. I mean, he normally runs hot, but that’s so hot it's scary.” He rested his chin on one hand, staring down at the floor and fiddling with his jacket with the other. “It reminded me of when Ben and Cora caught Scarlet fever. I was so scared even though you kept telling me they were gonna be fine. I just wanted to protect them from everything.

“I want to protect Keith too. I mean, I want to protect everyone, that's why I'm up here, but... Keith’s different. I want to wrap him up in my arms and never let him go. I want to shield him from everything we’re fighting, I want to watch his back when he and Scarlet go running off on their own. I want to wrap him up in a bear hug and fight anyone who ever did him wrong. I-”

Lance took a deep breath and looked out at Scarlet. “I think I’ve got a crush, Mama, and I don’t know if that’s a good thing. I mean, he’s  _ Keith. _ He’s not going to reciprocate that! And even if he did Allura and Shiro would probably have our heads for “endangering the team” or some shit. AND Shiro would go all overprotective-big-brother on me and I’ve seen him as Space Dad, how am I supposed to deal with that? How am I supposed to navigate this? Oh god, and the mind-meld exercies, what’s gonna happen if Hunk gets nosy or, god forbid,  _ Keith _ starts rooting around.  _ What am I supposed to do, Mama?” _

He took a deep breath and hugged his knees up to his chest. Azul sent comfort through him, a rolling wave of warmth and love. It almost felt like a hug from his moms. He relaxed slightly into the mental embrace. “I know what you’d say. Exactly what you said in ninth grade: “Just try, and if they’re the right one you’ll figure it out.” I will. Eventually. I know I’d never forgive myself if one of us died and I never got to tell him. I just... I wish you were here. Or I was there. Fuck, all I want is a bear hug from Sofie and you and Mom telling me to stop being a wuss and tell him. And for Keith to be alright.”

Azul suddenly raised her head up. “Whoa! Azul, what’s-” he cut himself off when he caught sight of the Red Lion out Azul’s viewport. She was stirring, lights on and paws stretching. Lance couldn’t stop a smile from spreading, taking up his whole face. “Scarlet!” If Scarlet was active again, that meant that Keith couldn’t be far behind. “Electron! Send this one only to receiver L, okay? End recording!”

Azul let Lance out before bounding over and nuzzling Scarlet. Lance smiled at them, noting Kuro still standing protectively, before diving out of the way of Jade and Sama and heading to the infirmary.

Scarlet was fine. That meant Keith was fine. Lance could live with that. 

**Author's Note:**

> Lance has a crush~~~~~~~~~~ And poor Keith why do I do this to him. His Galra genes made this so much harder to deal with :(


End file.
